STI made by Dasan Machineries korea??

[Steppenwolf]

54 minutes ago, GIO said:

Electronics (most) are a good example of cost over quality because they are pretty much disposable. One of the only things good about getting older is you finally realize you should never have low quality Shoes, Guns or Friends. 

Can't argue with that sage wisdom.

[mont1120]

I own a STI Eagle in .45 and have used it two years for L10 and Limited, and love the gun. One of the selling points is I thought it was MADE and MANUFACTURED here in America. I am not a full fledged USA only buyer, and I buy what works. I have a Glock, 2 XDm's, and know full well where they are made. I see this forum posting, and I will say it does surprise me to think I may have been uninformed into paying more for a gun that is not really made here, but just assembled in the US. 

 

Here is the listing of STI on Wikipedia:

"STI International, Inc., is a Texas based company that manufactures complete 1911 and 2011® handguns and parts for competition, duty and self-defense. It is most well known for its 2011® modular frame guns.Wikipedia"

 

From the STI website "All current STI models are assembled and hand fit right here in Georgetown TX with the best parts available from around the world." 

 

To me, and I speak only for myself and how I personally interpret something, this smacks of slight of hand advertising. When you state your company "manufactures COMPLETE 1911 and 201 handguns"  that seems to mean you make all the parts, or at least the major parts in your facility. Obviously the word "manufacture" means different things to different people. In defense of STI,  the dictionary says to manufacture is to" make, produce, mass-produce, build, construct, assemble, " put together", create, fabricate, turn out, process, engineer."  It does say put together.

 

So, the answer for me is STI does not hide the fact they use imported parts that make up the important platform. I cannot find out where the slides are made.  I just never thought one of the most important parts are from overseas.   Anybody who buys custom high end guns using the STI as the basis for the frame are not buying a Cadillac, they be getting a Hyundai.

 

Never assume anything........

 

 

 

 

 

[ltdmstr]

On 3/10/2018 at 6:06 AM, yigal said:

i think that good  responsible  gunsmith  more important than where parts made.

 

It's not so much where they're made, but what they're made of and how they're made.  A good gunsmith isn't a magician.  He/she can't turn substandard parts into a quality firearm.  When holes are drilled in the wrong place, or on an angle instead of straight, or are tapered instead of round, or machining is done incorrectly, or material and manufacturing methods are poor, you typically can't fix that.  Or it's not cost effective to do it.  It's far less work for a gunsmith to build from quality parts than to try to fix crap parts.  And even if you do the work to fix the crap parts, the end result isn't as good and isn't going to last as long. 

[yigal]

14 minutes ago, ltdmstr said:

 

It's not so much where they're made, but what they're made of and how they're made.  A good gunsmith isn't a magician.  He/she can't turn substandard parts into a quality firearm.  When holes are drilled in the wrong place, or on an angle instead of straight, or are tapered instead of round, or machining is done incorrectly, or material and manufacturing methods are poor, you typically can't fix that.  Or it's not cost effective to do it.  It's far less work for a gunsmith to build from quality parts than to try to fix crap parts.  And even if you do the work to fix the crap parts, the end result isn't as good and isn't going to last as long. 

 sti advertise that they use sae 4140 steel for slides and frames and the hardness of this parts.

DASSAN  has ISO  standard,  so sae 4140  in US  it's the same 4140 steel in KOREA with same specifications.

i checked lately few STI  guns that arrived to the club and i didn't saw any crap parts or other defects in this guns. workmanship is O.K.  only one from 4 didn;t works but it was only extractor  tuning small  problem. now all of them works perfect. they  didn't svi quality  but it's good  base to continue . personally i never  hold  good  quality gun that 101% perfect for my specs .

responsible good gunsmith will not put crap parts in his work.  and i know that there is many in US.

but  i saw crap disco on svi gun  that looks like old armscor low quality part . 

 

[Ozy]

Several sti parts have been made and sourced in SK...... they shifted production from the Philippines....

[GIO]

Maybe the Tariff change will push them back to US Steel.

Regarding ISO, it all depends who checks for compliance.. I’m sure plenty of funny business goes on. 

 

The worst thing is STI still made ridiculous price increases the past three years (1,300 dollar Trojans) . I would have been ok with “hey, we are raising prices to keep all US materials and the quality you expect” not “we are raising prices, not really building guns like we used to and we are giving in to globalist nonsense” 

 

Still decent guns guns but no better than the rest. Maybe they are bundling up to sell the brand? 

[noexcuses]

so with the production change to more offshore parts, does that mean that the older ones made in the USA will bring a premium

[thormx538]

I think Sig 1911s use (or used to use) parts machined by Dasan also, and finished domestically.

[Buck8154]

As a disclaimer, I am new STI employee...

 

STI does not use any foreign parts or materials anymore.  Yes in the past they used some frames and slides that were partially machined from dasan, who also makes frames and slides for numerous other US firearms manufacturers, and even has a factory in Georgia.  However under the new ownership of STI that practice has stopped, and all frames, slides, and parts a re machined from raw stock in house at their Georgetown Texas plant.  If anyone doubts this is our current practice, come to Georgetown and I will take you on a tour of our facility and show you the whole operation from raw stock material certs, to the finished product.

[Scott Steele]

Yep, they make parts and frames for a lot of US firearms companies.
Link to their website listing a few but have many more.
http://dasanusa.com/file/company_info.pdf



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[Silverscooby27]

2 hours ago, Buck8154 said:

As a disclaimer, I am new STI employee...

 

STI does not use any foreign parts or materials anymore.  Yes in the past they used some frames and slides that were partially machined from dasan, who also makes frames and slides for numerous other US firearms manufacturers, and even has a factory in Georgia.  However under the new ownership of STI that practice has stopped, and all frames, slides, and parts a re machined from raw stock in house at their Georgetown Texas plant.  If anyone doubts this is our current practice, come to Georgetown and I will take you on a tour of our facility and show you the whole operation from raw stock material certs, to the finished product.

So how can we tell if our 1911s and 2011s are US manufactured or not?

[bonglee0507]

As a disclaimer, I am new STI employee...
 
STI does not use any foreign parts or materials anymore.  Yes in the past they used some frames and slides that were partially machined from dasan, who also makes frames and slides for numerous other US firearms manufacturers, and even has a factory in Georgia.  However under the new ownership of STI that practice has stopped, and all frames, slides, and parts a re machined from raw stock in house at their Georgetown Texas plant.  If anyone doubts this is our current practice, come to Georgetown and I will take you on a tour of our facility and show you the whole operation from raw stock material certs, to the finished product.

The frame i posted above came from a new shipment from the USA. Is this an old stock?

[Buck8154]

yes it is, STI has not outsourced any parts to dasan in almost two years.  If it is not marked dasan then it was not machined by dasan.

[ltdmstr]

Buck,

 

Since you're on here now, can you comment on whether STI have any plans to improve the quality of their products?  They have been putting out a LOT of really bad stuff for quite some time.  You can do a quick search and find many examples that run the gamut from improperly fit barrels to front sights installed backwards and just about everything you can imagine in between.  And to add insult to injury, some of the responses received from your customer service people are pretty darn ridiculous as well.  Hopefully someone there recognizes this is an issue and is doing something about it.

[yigal]

1 hour ago, ltdmstr said:

Buck,

 

Since you're on here now, can you comment on whether STI have any plans to improve the quality of their products?  They have been putting out a LOT of really bad stuff for quite some time.  You can do a quick search and find many examples that run the gamut from improperly fit barrels to front sights installed backwards and just about everything you can imagine in between.  And to add insult to injury, some of the responses received from your customer service people are pretty darn ridiculous as well.  Hopefully someone there recognizes this is an issue and is doing something about it.

 

+1

Edited March 15, 2018 by yigal

[bonglee0507]

yes it is, STI has not outsourced any parts to dasan in almost two years.  If it is not marked dasan then it was not machined by dasan.

I dont think so. I think STI is outsourcing for bigger profit and i know you wont admit it

[mont1120]

I believe if memory serves me correctly, any imported foreign part must clearly be marked from the country of origin. Some specific parts are exempt, but I think firearms parts meet the requirement. I think that import law is still in effect.

[Buck8154]

STI is under new ownership and management.  We currently make our own slides and frames from raw stock in house.  The run of 1200 90% frames that Dasan made for STI a few  years ago were made for overseas sales.  The less than 5% of current parts that we currently outsource, are made by American companies using American materials. 

 

Our new owners, and management our addressing the QC issues of the past, as well as the customer service issues that plagued the company in the past...for example, I was recently contacted by a member of another forum who had issues getting his gun fixed over a year and half ago, and he had gave up on our customer service department, as well as STI.  I brought him to our factory, and had him meet with our senior master gunsmith, who then took care of the customers pistol on the spot for him.  The new management is mostly veterans, as are several other new employees, and to include myself who is a retired Marine Gunny.  We do care where our parts come from, do care about our quality control, do care about making an American firearm, and do care about our customers and dealers. 

 

And yes those import laws are still in effect, which is why the ATF required dasan markings on the partially finished frames that have been called into question on this forum and on the USN forum.

 

 I most certainly would tell you if we were still using some overseas outsourced parts on our guns as honesty is the best policy, and you can get a list from dasan on the companies they have supplied parts to recently, to include remington, sig, springfield, glock, etc...so why would I lie about it?. 

 

Our current lineup are made in house at Georgetown Texas, and are all hand-fit by a single gunsmith, not made on an assembly line, and are inspected by our master gunsmiths before shipping...even our entry level guns receive the same production process as of now, and going forward soon we are going to have the gunsmith who built your gun leave his name and contact info in the case with the gun so you will be able to contact the actual smith who built your gun.  To prove what I am saying since my honesty and integrity has been called into question on this matter, we will be creating some video content in the near future that shows STI's production process from raw stock to finished product at our factories in Georgetown.

 

If anyone else has any questions feel free to let me know.

[yigal]

i think that every gunsmith should  put   signature on some part of the  gun or supply the gun with document with gunsmith signature  that assembled  the gun.

 for better value of the gun.

[Bruce]

Buck...was Greg Mooney replaced as CEO?  Who is the CEO now?  I look forward to seeing the new and improved STI lineup!

[Buck8154]

New CEO is Nate Horvath, a Marine Veteran and lifelong firearms enthusiast...I assure you his only concern is producing a high quality, American made product!  I would not have accepted his job offer to come on board if I did not believe that his intentions were true...I was making way more money contracting!

[Sarge]

3 minutes ago, Buck8154 said:

New CEO is Nate Horvath, a Marine Veteran and lifelong firearms enthusiast...I assure you his only concern is producing a high quality, American made product!  I would not have accepted his job offer to come on board if I did not believe that his intentions were true...I was making way more money contracting!

He has his work cut out for him. I hope he turns it around.

[Bruce]

1 hour ago, Buck8154 said:

New CEO is Nate Horvath, a Marine Veteran and lifelong firearms enthusiast...I assure you his only concern is producing a high quality, American made product!  I would not have accepted his job offer to come on board if I did not believe that his intentions were true...I was making way more money contracting!

 

Nate is the managing director of Westwind Investors...the equity firm that bought stake in STI?  He has a lot on his plate, I agree with Sarge...I hope he turns STI around, we will all benefit.  

[Silverscooby27]

So...was my new Trojan .45 was made in TX of American parts? I just bought it from Dawson Precision. Would save me from buying a Cabot, haha

[ltdmstr]

12 hours ago, Buck8154 said:

STI is under new ownership and management.  We currently make our own slides and frames from raw stock in house.  The run of 1200 90% frames that Dasan made for STI a few  years ago were made for overseas sales.  The less than 5% of current parts that we currently outsource, are made by American companies using American materials. 

 

Our new owners, and management our addressing the QC issues of the past, as well as the customer service issues that plagued the company in the past...for example, I was recently contacted by a member of another forum who had issues getting his gun fixed over a year and half ago, and he had gave up on our customer service department, as well as STI.  I brought him to our factory, and had him meet with our senior master gunsmith, who then took care of the customers pistol on the spot for him.  The new management is mostly veterans, as are several other new employees, and to include myself who is a retired Marine Gunny.  We do care where our parts come from, do care about our quality control, do care about making an American firearm, and do care about our customers and dealers. 

 

And yes those import laws are still in effect, which is why the ATF required dasan markings on the partially finished frames that have been called into question on this forum and on the USN forum.

 

 I most certainly would tell you if we were still using some overseas outsourced parts on our guns as honesty is the best policy, and you can get a list from dasan on the companies they have supplied parts to recently, to include remington, sig, springfield, glock, etc...so why would I lie about it?. 

 

Our current lineup are made in house at Georgetown Texas, and are all hand-fit by a single gunsmith, not made on an assembly line, and are inspected by our master gunsmiths before shipping...even our entry level guns receive the same production process as of now, and going forward soon we are going to have the gunsmith who built your gun leave his name and contact info in the case with the gun so you will be able to contact the actual smith who built your gun.  To prove what I am saying since my honesty and integrity has been called into question on this matter, we will be creating some video content in the near future that shows STI's production process from raw stock to finished product at our factories in Georgetown.

 

If anyone else has any questions feel free to let me know.

 

Thanks for the info.  It's helpful to know what's going on with the company and good to know that people there actually care about what they're doing.  Hopefully you can turn it around.